Pep Guardiola will be looking to drag his Manchester City out of their current crisis when they visit West Bromwich Albion at the Hawthorns on Saturday. Last season the Citizens won both matches against the Baggies, 2-1 at home and 3-0 away. In fact, Manchester City have won the last nine matches against West Brom, the last victory for Saturday's home side was in the League Cup in 2010.
West Brom are without a victory in their last four matches, but they can be happy with the fact that they lost just one of those four games. That defeat came last weekend, when Liverpool beat them 2-1 at Anfield Road. However, West Brom have not lost a match at home since the opening day of the season, with a win and two draws recorded since. Claudio Yacob is suspended, while Saido Berahino is not yet fit for a competitive match.
Manchester City have not won in six matches, losing three out of six since their last victory. It's the first real crisis for Pep Guardiola at the Etihad Stadium, a streak that was made even more painful by this week's defeat against rivals Manchester United in the League Cup. Saturday's match is a must-win for Manchester City, but they will have to do without injured full-backs Bacary Sagna and Pablo Zabaleta. Kevin De Bruyne and Fabian Delph might recover just in time for the match.
Probable line-ups:
West Brom: Foster - Dawson, McAuley, Evans, Nyom - Gardner - Phillips, Chadli, Morrison, Brunt - Rondon
Man City: Bravo - Maffeo, Otamendi, Stones, Kolarov - Fernandinho - Navas, Silva, Gundogan, Sterling - Aguero
My prediction: Manchester City to win 1-0.
Here are the odds for the match at Bet365:
West Brom win - 8.00
Draw - 4.75
Man City win - 1.44
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